Iron Man

I'm sure that you're thinking that this is a response to the recent Iron Man movie and the upcoming sequel, but it's really not. Most of Marvel's movies are just origin stories, let's talk Spiderman to make a point. Spiderman the movie, main plot lines, origin of Spiderman and origin of Green Goblin. Spiderman 2, origin of Doc. Ock. Spiderman 3, origin of Sandman, origin of Green Goblin 2, origin of Venom. Let's do another! Daredevil, origin of Daredevil, origin of Elektra. One more just for fun. Fantastic Four, origin of the Fantastic Four, origin of Dr. Doom. Fantastic Four 2, introduction of the Silver Surfer and introduction of Galactus. Iron Man the Movie was just an origin story of Iron Man and War Monger. I'm surprised that so many people forget that comic book heroes are great in the comic books that they originated from.

And here's the strange thing about those comic books, they aren't all origin stories. There are recurring villains and guest stars (see War Machine in the picture) and even though there are new villains all the time, there' s more going on. Comic books are awesome serial stories that would lend themselves much more to a well done TV show (cough, Smallville) than to the big screen. I'm not saying that there isn't a place for superhero movies, I do like them, but at the same time The animated series of Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited were so much better than the movies that have been created, that it just isn't funny. I know you can do anything in an animated feature and it's difficult with live action, but if you can pull off the effects in a movie, you should be able to do something with a TV show. Sure, you might have to change some stuff and put a spin on things to fit your story into a live action series, but it can be done, and done well at that.

But I digress, back to comics. When I was a preteen, I used to walk the few blocks up to 7-Eleven, at least I would when I had saved up enough scratch to pick up a comic. Used to be easy at 75 cents a piece, but when they raised the price to a dollar or $1.25, my comic buying days were slowing down, though they've never stopped completely. When I was a kid, if I had the money, I'd buy a Transformers comic, if I already had it, or if they didn't have the new one yet, it'd be Green Lantern. Third on my list was Iron Man and I didn't normally make it very far past third without circling back to Transformers the next month.

The best part about going on trips was that at just about every gas stop, the parents would break down and buy me a comic or two for the next leg of the trip. I guess me not picking on my brother was worth an occasional 75 cents and sometimes I'd end up with around a dozen new comics on a road trip with the family. I picked up more Iron Man that way than any other way, and for some reason the places we'd go always have a few issues of Iron Man for me to pickup. Sure, I'd get some other books too like Daredevil, Fantasic Four and occasionally the Flash, or just something I'd never read before and I never bought again. I don't remember too many trips I didn't bring back one issue of Iron Man though.

I don't know how I never caught on to Tony Stark's philandering as a kid, maybe I was too young and still innocent, but I always thought he was cool. Still, it was the Iron Man persona that had always interested me. One thing that was cool about Iron Man was the revisions. His suit was always being upgraded, which lent an evolution to the character that others didn't have. He kept getting more powers, was better protected and technical glitches added to the story. Something made Iron Man feel more real too. There was no cosmic radiation, or extra-terrestrial origin. Instead a guy who had money created tech to create a hero. I guess it was always a little easier to put yourself in that kind of story than say the Beast.